Grid Storage Launchpad at PNNL Opens New Era in Energy Storage
Scientists, legislators, community leaders and officials of the Department of Energy gathered August 13 at PNNL to dedicate the Grid Storage Launchpad, a new 93,000-square-foot research facility that will accelerate the development of energy storage for the nation’s electrical grid and transportation sector.
Funded by DOE’s Office of Electricity, in collaboration with the Office of Science, GSL will be home to all of PNNL’s energy storage researchers — from those developing new battery chemistries to those testing next-generation technologies under real-world conditions. Read more about GSL on PNNL’s website
PNNL Technology Wins Three R&D 100 Awards
Three technologies developed at PNNL have been named 2024 R&D 100 Award winners. The Electrical Grid Resilience and Assessment System won in the software/services category, the Autonomous Electron Microscope in the analytical/test category and the Real-Time Advanced Imaging Technology in the software/services category. Read more about the awards on PNNL’s website
Sniff Test for Explosives Detection Extends Its Reach
Scientists have developed a way to detect tiny amounts of hard-to-detect explosives more than eight feet away, reducing the need to swipe clothing, luggage or other materials.
The method, published in the chemistry journal Talanta, detects trace amounts of explosives like nitroglycerin and RDX — the explosive in C-4 — through the air at extremely low levels within seconds. Such substances give off just a few precious molecules — but scientists have nonetheless created ways to detect them. Read more about explosives detection on PNNL’s website
Ships Now Spew Less Sulfur, but Warming Has Sped Up
Last year marked Earth’s warmest year on record. A new study finds that some of 2023’s record warmth, nearly 20 percent, likely came as a result of reduced sulfur dioxide emissions from the shipping industry.
Sulfur dioxide can intermingle with atmospheric chemicals to become sulfur aerosols.
Because of their cooling properties, some aerosols mask a portion of the warming brought by greenhouse gas emissions. When atmospheric aerosol concentrations suddenly dwindle, warming can spike. It’s difficult, however, to estimate just how much warming may come as a result. Read more about sulfur aerosols on PNNL’s website
Experiment on Photosynthesis by Scientists at PNNL Headed to the Space Station
A PNNL experiment aimed at learning more about how plants grow in space launched toward the International Space Station from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on August 4. The experiment flew on a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft perched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory will tend to the plants before they are returned to Earth.
Faced with the challenge of electric grid modernization, many have called for supporting utility managers and operators with artificial intelligence and machine learning tools that can remove some of their decision-making burden.
A research team led by PNNL has demystified the technology’s emerging role in the electric grid in a new report. The team points toward a time when ML can become a trusted partner for the nation’s utility operators. As a branch of AI, ML uses mathematical models and real-world data to make decisions based on logic and prior knowledge. Read about AI and ML’s role in the electric grid on PNNL’s website
Staff Highlights & More
Paša-Tolić
Ljiljana Paša-Tolić, a PNNL Laboratory Fellow, is the 2024 recipient of the International Mass Spectrometry Foundation’s Jochen Franzen Award. The Jochen Franzen Award recognizes outstanding contributions to innovations in structural, spatial and/or separation analysis with mass spectrometry. Paša-Tolić is the second recipient to ever receive the award, which was initiated in 2022. Read more about Paša-Tolić’s award on PNNL’s website
Anderson
Cassidy Anderson, a materials scientist at PNNL, was selected to participate in the Epistimi-Women in STEMM Leadership Workshop on “Women in the Energy Sector,” a prestigious summer program that empowers women in science, technology, engineering, math and medicine to increase female leadership in the sciences. Anderson was one of 25 women worldwide chosen to participate in the leadership program held July 15–19, in Athens, Greece. Read more about Anderson’s selection on PNNL’s website
Harilal
PNNL chief scientist and physicist Sivanandan Harilal was selected as one of only 47 international Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers Fellows identified for 2024. Fellows are honored for their technical achievement and for their service to the general optics community and to SPIE. Harilal has been selected as a SPIE Fellow for his achievements in plasma spectroscopy and applications in extreme ultraviolet lithography and nuclear nonproliferation. Read more about Harilal’s selection on PNNL’s website
